Sandy Hutchens Cancer Prevention

While we know that there is no balm for the sense of helplessness that arises from learning a loved one has cancer, a national research study is focused on giving average Canadians occasion to aid in someone’s future grief. Personal health data from 300,000 Canadians over the next 30 years will give researchers a better understanding of risk factors for cancer.

“We know a bit about some of the causes of cancer, but we clearly don’t know all of them,” said Dr. Marilyn Borugian, scientist at the B.C. Cancer Agency. “People still walk into doctor’s offices everyday who don’t have the common risk factors and their illness can’t be explained.”

Borugian is the director of the province’s portion of the study, called the BC Generations Project.The project just launched its drive to enlist 40,000 B.C. residents between the ages of 40 and 69. Participants will complete a questionnaire about health and lifestyle, have various physical measurements taken, and provide blood and urine samples. “The purpose is to try and get at solutions around cancer prevention and early detection,” Borugian said.

The anonymous data will be tracked over 30 years and then compared against the provincial cancer registry. Information from those who develop cancer, diabetes and heart disease will be placed side by side with those who remain healthy. The result will hopefully be a clear reading on what was at play before the person got sick, potentially pointing to contributing factors or causes, Borugian said.

“If I take a blood sample from someone who’s already become ill, then (I’ve) confused the picture with things that might be the result of the stresses or weight loss or medications as a result of the illness,” she said.

Chris Dawkins, of Vancouver, gave his blood during the 90-minute process with two loved ones in mind: his father, who died of cancer, and his sister-in-law, a breast cancer survivor who persuaded him to join the study.

“I’m wishing something like this had happened years ago, so that we had that body of knowledge and those trends and that information that we could have relied on before now,” said the 64-year-old. “My father died in 1961 and there’s been a lot of (other) pain and heartbreak since then, and I was thinking that if a project like this had gotten off the ground several years ago, we would have been so much ahead of the game.”

Along with B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada are participating in the cohort study, which is supported by $42 million from Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and regional funding.

While an assessment clinic is currently open in the city of Vancouver, another one will open in the following year in Victoria. A mobile assessment van will also tour small communities in the province. One advantage of the study is that the data collected is about how participants are living at present, as opposed to asking afflicted people to recall their habits from years past, Borougian said.

Gary Howell is a cancer survivor. He participated in the Breast Cancer Fund’s 2009 Climb Against the Odds trek up Mt. Shasta in California. Hutchens Cancer Prevention feels that this article by Mr. Howell is so important in spreading information about the need to focus on prevention that we quoted it in its entirety.

The month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. There have been numerous articles, events, fundraisers and television programs oriented toward this theme and many of them feature the term “cure” prominently in the title.

Certainly a cure for breast cancer would be a welcome occasion, but this focus unfortunately can mask the many avenues of breast cancer prevention that are already documented; many are already available to women and some need additional research and/or legislation.

Between 1973 and 1998, the incidence of breast cancer in the U.S. increased by more than 40 percent. In 2008, an estimated 250,000 U.S. women were diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,500 died of the disease.

Clearly something is happening to cause this increase. Women need to be informed about risk factors that have developed during this 25-year period and we all need to work together to eliminate them. I would like to emphasize this point by illustrating it with a very personal example.

My wife, Nancy, reached menopause at the relatively early age of 42 and experienced the array of annoying symptoms that often characterize this event; hot flashes and moodiness being the most acute. Like so many women, she embarked on a regimen of hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, and the symptoms disappeared.

Nancy’s mother began menopause at that same age and took HRT for 34 years without event. Being her mother’s daughter, she followed her footsteps. There is no history of breast cancer in her family; but in the United States, where a woman’s lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is an alarming 1 in 8, no more than 1 in 10 women with breast cancer has a genetic history of the disease!

Nancy is one of the fortunate women whose routine mammogram screening revealed the cancer in its earliest stage before a palpable lump had developed and before the cancer spread to the lymph system. Following a regimen of chemotherapy and radiation, the odds are very good that Nancy’s cancer will not return.

I can assure you, however, that Nancy would have gladly disabused herself of the benefits of HRT in favor of avoiding the exhausting and painful treatments that were prescribed.

An estimated 80,000 synthetic chemicals have been registered for use in the United States in the last 40 years, but fewer than 10 percent of them have been fully tested for their effects on human health. Scientific evidence links toxic chemicals and radiation in our every day environment to the high rates of breast cancer. Some of this exposure is from seemingly benign sources such as cosmetics, beauty creams, sunscreen lotions, plastics and foodstuffs containing artificial hormones and additives.

We must:

* Educate ourselves and our loved ones about risky behaviors.

Some suggested links on the internet are:

http://www.breastcancerfund.org

http://www.safecosmetics.org

http://www.healthandenvironment.org

* Become involved in the legislative process. Three suggested links are:

Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, http://www.1in8@mbcc.org

National Women’s Health Network, http://www.womenshealthnetwork.org

Jane Cusumono Foundation, http://chateauwallyfilms.com/breastcancerresources.htm

This month, when you notice pink ribbons in the grocery and department stores, and football players, golfers and politicians wearing pink, keep in mind that we not only need a cure for breast cancer, but remember also that prevention is so much easier than treating this devastating disease.

Is Prevention the Cure for Cancer?

At least one-third of all cancer cases can be prevented. Sandy Hutchens Cancer Prevention offers the most efficient strategy for the prevention of cancer.

Tobacco

This is the single largest preventable cause of cancer in the world. It causes over 80% of all lung cancer deaths, and 30% of all cancer deaths in the third world. This includes deaths from cancer of the oral cavity, larynx, oesophagus and stomach. A comprehensive program which would include a stop to tobacco advertising, increased taxation on tobacco products, and stop smoking programs can greatly reduce the use of tobacco in many countries. The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control adopted measures in May 2003, aims to curb tobacco-related deaths and disease. We are looking for updates on their progress.

Diet

Changes in diet is another critical action to take to prevent and control cancer. There are know links between obesity and many types of cancer such as oesophagus, colorectum, breast, endometrium and kidney. Diets high in fruits and vegetables have a preventative effect against a great number of cancers. On the other hand, consumption of red and preserved meat is connected with an increased risk of colorectal cancer.Healthy eating habits which ameliorate the development of diet-related cancers have the added benefit of lowering the potential for cardiovascular disease.

Exercise

Regular physical exercise along with a healthy body weight and healthy diet, will greatly reduce the chances of cancer. National policies and programs have been implemented in some countries which raise awareness and reduce exposure to cancer risk factors. To ensure that citizens are provided with the information and the tools they need to adopt healthy lifestyles governments may play a large role.

Preventing Disease

Infectious agents are responsible for almost one quarter of cancer deaths in the third world and 1 in 20 in industrialized countries. Viral hepatitis B and C can cause liver cancer; human papilloma virus infection can cause cancer of the cervix; the bacterium Helicobacter pylori can greatly increase the risk of stomach cancer. In some countries the parasitic infection schistosomiasis increases the risk of bladder cancer and in other countries the liver fluke increases the risk of cholangiocarcinoma to do with the bile ducts system. Preventive measures include vaccination and prevention of infection and infestation.

Radiation

Exposure to radiation is well known to cause some cancers. Solar ultraviolet radiation can raise the risk of all types of skin cancer. Avoiding excessive exposure, use of sunscreen and protective clothing are important preventive activities.

Asbestos

On the subject of home and workplace safety, asbestos must be looked at because it can cause lung cancer. Also aniline dyes have been linked to bladder cancer. Benzene has been linked to leukemia. The prevention of certain occupational and environmental exposure to these and other chemicals are important steps to take in preventing cancer.

Smile For Cancer Prevention video